I was contacted today by another former Fairfax Cryobank donor who is outraged that the sperm bank will not give him his donor number, thereby making it impossible, at this point, to connect with any offspring he might have. Sometimes donors can scroll through the Fairfax list and find themselves by the donor descriptions, but not always. This man says, “I am dissappointed in Fairfax in not releasing the donor numbers if they are requested by the donors themselves. I do not understand their insensitivity to people who want to know their backgrounds and donors who are willing to provide this information. Please post this on your blog when you get a chance.”
Fairfax Cryobank, please start putting the needs and the rights of the families before your own concerns of liability. Yes, if you give donors their donor numbers many will find out that you did not limit the number of children born from their donations. (see the 9/2011 NY Times article about the donor with more than 150 offspring). But you are also deliberately prohibiting the updating and sharing of medical information and mutual consent contact amongst genetic relatives. This must stop.